[or, Introductory Lectures and Preparation to the Study of Theology]
Retyped by Rick Friedrich in August of 1998.
LECTURE I, II. - INTRODUCTORY.
Define the study upon which we are about to enter - Some of the requisite personal qualifications for this study - Some of the advantages to be derived from the study of Systematic Theology - Some things to be avoided - Remarks.
LECTURE III. - INTRODUCTORY - CONSCIOUSNESS AND SENSE.
Do we know anything? - How do we know ourselves? - What do we know of ourselves in consciousness? - What is meant by sense?
LECTURE IV. - INTRODUCTORY - REASON.
What we mean by the reason, as distinct from the other functions of the intellect - First truths of reason have the following characteristics - Examples of some first truths of reason - How these truths are developed in the reason - Division of first truths of reason - Second class of truths of reason - How this class of truths (second class) is developed in the reason - Remarks - Truths of conscience - How the ideas of conscience are developed.
LECTURE V. - INTRODUCTORY - THE UNDERSTANDING, JUDGMENT, AND FREEDOM OF THE WILL.
The understanding - The judgment - The will.
LECTURE VI. - INTRODUCTORY - IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
Argument from consciousness - Moral argument - The Bible argument - Objections.
LECTURE VI-b. - INTRODUCTORY - EVIDENCE.
The importance of a correct and thorough knowledge of the laws of evidence - What is evidence and what is proof, and the difference between them - Source of evidence in a course of theological inquiry - Kinds and degrees of evidence to be expected - When objections are not, and when they are fatal - How objections are to be disposed of - Where lies the burden of proof - Where proof or argument must begin.
LECTURE VII. - THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
Several ways in which God may reveal himself to rational beings - Two revelations - What God is as known to us in the irresistible convictions of our minds - Principle terms to be used in discussion of God's existence - Some self-evident truths of reason - Argument for the existence of God - Argument for the existence of God as Moral Governor.
LECTURE VIII. - THE EXISTENCE OF GOD (CONTINUED).
Argument from final causes; or, from apparent ultimate design - Facts and self-evident truths - The following positions are manifest - Propositions - Stating the substance of the above propositions in another form - Argument from consciousness of the existence of God - First objection - Second objection - Method of the natural reason - Summary remarks.
LECTURE IX. - THE NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
What is a natural attribute? - What are the natural attributes of God? - Self-existence - Immutability - Absoluteness - Infinity - Liberty - Omniscience - Omnipotence - Eternity - Ubiquity or omnipresence - Spirituality - Moral agency - Unity - Independence - Natural perfection.
LECTURE X. - THE MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
What is moral character, and what are moral attributes? - God is morally and infinitely good - Two objections that have been made to the benevolence of God - What are the moral attributes of God? - Justice - Mercy.
LECTURE XI. - THE MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD (CONTINUED).
Veracity - Disinterestedness - Forbearance - Long-suffering - Self-denial - Impartiality - Beneficence - Sovereignty.
LECTURE XII. - THE MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD (CONTINUED).
Firmness - Severity - Efficiency - Simplicity - Immutability - Infinity - Holiness - Remarks.
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